I posted a bit about myself and my Zephyr in the Introduction section, but I would like to start a thread that follows the "bringing back to life" of the Zephyr.
I will be posting a bunch of pictures and updates as to the progress of the car and modifications. Feel free to chime in with tips/suggestions/comments regarding the "build"

Arno

Nov 7th weekend, the "pulling out" I had purchase the car basically unseen (walked past it in a dark barn and said "yup, I'll take it") from a good friend and car nut. He had gotten the car as a package deal when buying an rv from an old couple. The car had been sitting under a cover for the better part of 46 years... During these years, it was taken out in the late nineties for a couple years then put back in the barn. One owner car, bought in 1960-1. My buddy has too many cars and I was looking for something unique, so it was a good match. He owned the car for 2 years, but it did what it did best, sat in a barn.

This weekend, I was final.y able to come rescue it! After dealing with the frozen drums, we were able to push and winch it on our trailer. Drove back from SW Michigan to Chicago. This morning, I had spent a couple hours going through the car and giving it a good wash. So far, knock on wood, it is better then I had expected. The paint is not bad at all. There are quite a few blemishes made from having a cover/tarp on for so long. These will buff out with a good polish. There are some cracks and knicks here and there but nothing bigger then a quarter. The interior is faded, and the front and rear windscreen seals are gone (hard as a rock and falling apart. We almost lost the upper, rear trim piece because of that on the highway).
There are a good amount of spare parts and assorted pieces. Rust is not bad at all, especially for a northern car. The tires are dated 1999 ans brand new (still have the "whiskers" on it!) but starting to dry rot...engine turns over but we haven't tried to startit yet.
Order of business is to get it started, clean up any rust areas under the car and coat the underside, polsih the paint, change out the windscreen seals, fix the brakes, and go over the whole car. After that I'll work on fitting a Weber 28/36 That I got from Pete (Thanks Pete!!), and fix the dent on theleft headlight.

Now some pictures of this weekend and the clean up.

In the barn (not the long term storage barn, it has been in this one for two something years)

Getting it on the trailer

Home, little boy is excited! Needs a bath...

The parts that were in the trunk

After the clean up and it's new home.

Last edited by Avmaviator on Wed Feb 17, 2016 9:07 pm; edited 6 times in total

Amazing condition. After you put all the missing pieces back on it will look fantastic. After getting the engine to run, adding some period mods i.e. 28/36, headers and switching to a pertronix ignition ( LU 165 kit ) will boost a bit more power.

Just a heads up: When replacing the F/R window seals. Install the seal onto the window next the trim then install the assembly as a unit. If you install the window first to the car you won't be able to get the trim back on especially the rear window trim.

Pete, thanks, I'm happy with the car so far. Pretty excited to work on it and put it back on the road. Great to know about the trim pieces... Should be interesting. I'm going to order these seals soon. I also want to get some lowering springs for the front as I don't like its nose high look.

Lovely car and in great shape. Here in the UK they are still very popular and good ones are hard to find. I had a 1960 Zodiac with just over 40k from new, drove beautifully. The exhaust note is lovely too, very distinctive. Oh and a tip that I picked up from Kevin who is the guru for these cars. When you eventually get to drive it try to avoid putting the car straight into first gear. Select second and then put it into first which will prevent wear and damage to the layshaft in the gearbox.

These kits are available on-line and are shared by some other British cars.

Thanks for the info Pete. I was actually looking for the actual cylinder. It is not installed on the car and it is not in the box of parts, so frustrating. I have a rebuild kit for it, which I was going to install when I saw it was missing

Sounds good. Even better than mine which is smoking like a b*astard so it looks like a re-build or transplant are in my future. BTW, Arno, another gent on this forum said that the split MK3 exhaust manifold fit on the MK2 quite well and did not foul the steering. I plan on getting one as it is a great improvement over the stock "hockey stick."_________________the older i get,the faster i went...

Sounds good. Even better than mine which is smoking like a b*astard so it looks like a re-build or transplant are in my future. BTW, Arno, another gent on this forum said that the split MK3 exhaust manifold fit on the MK2 quite well and did not foul the steering. I plan on getting one as it is a great improvement over the stock "hockey stick."

Thanks Gary Good to know on the headers. I would like to make some myself (I like metal working) but an MK3 one would be a good option.. gotta look into that.